In the Garden

I finished a washcloth with a penguin motif yesterday and the pictures I took did not come out very well so I decided to take it outside this morning to get better pictures, here is what I got (I think she likes it). ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Springcleaning - Week 1

Kitchen and Pantry

Purged, cleaned, reorganized and rearranged the pantry.
Washed woodwork, windows and cabinets.
Washed and ironed curtains.
Deep cleaned stove and refrigerator.
Cleaned counter, spice racks, towel holder and microwave.
Scrubbed sink, ran bleach through the drains.
Cleaned Mr. Coffee, light switches and smoke detector.
And now it is back to weekly maintenance cleaning.

Will take rest of the week off from cleaning to have some fun with yarn and knitting needles. ;)

A Request

I received this email recently and after checking out the website I decided to post it here, who knows maybe some of my readers will be able to help. It sure is a good cause. Here is the link to their website: http://www.freshair.org/
You can also click on the image in my sidebar.

As someone who is passionate about animals I thought you and the readers of Cats Crafts and Penguins would be interested in helping children who also love animals. The Fresh Air Fund is in need of host families for this summer. Host families are volunteers who open their hearts and homes to children from the city to give a fresh air experience that these disadvantaged children never forget. Even if you can't host a child yourself, just posting a mention of this program would be helpful to spread the word.

After the Storm

We had a strong thunderstorm last night with lots of rain and this morning I went out to take some pictures around the yard. Everything is growing like crazy, you can almost watch it grow. Right now it is raining again.

I almost missed the first blooms on the Camellia, which is blooming a bit later this year.

The purple crocus always come in after the yellow ones are gone.

The lilac - now freed from honeysuckle, which is was extremely strong this year, it must have really liked the wet weather.

My little helper, always on the lookout. She scrambles up that tree like a little monkey.

The strawberry plants survived the winter and even produced two new plants. The parsley, thyme and lavender also survived.

The view from the porch, the maple tree is budding and the birds were happy about the worms in the wet earth.

Signs of Spring

Buds, blooms and nutty cats. Spring is in the air and yesterday we reached 68. We spent some time in the garden, digging and cleaning. Del had a procedure on Monday to remove a kidney stone so he stayed home yesterday until all the sedatives and meds cleared out of his system and also to monitor the pieces of stone coming out. Moving around the garden did him good and he is back to work today. I just wish I had some extra money for some landscaping but with looming medical bills we have to be careful at the moment. Maybe next month.
Today it is rainy but still warm and I spent some quality time with my oven this morning after last night's apple pie got a bit carried away and bubbled over.

Let Them Eat Cake!

Chocolate Orange Cake, to be more precise. :) I find baking to be a good stress release, together with knitting and cooking.

March Decorating

Another Weekend - Another Cake

This time it is coconut with orange fudge icing. I am trying a new one every Friday. :)

Done and Dusted

My little bluework wall hanging is finished.

I am ready!

For planting season. I know it is still a few months until then but I bought my seeds last weekend to keep the hope alive that Spring will eventually come.

A little TLC for the weekend

RIP Blinkie

Someone ran him over outside our house last night. I will miss him.

My Weekend

On Saturday there was snow (and cats).

On Sunday there was sunshine (and cats) and because cats are solar powered they were quite frisky and happy about it.

There was also a finished craft project. After Kitty gave back the granny rectangle blanket I started with leftover yarn from various projects, I used the two days I was without computer this week (don't ask, our streak of broken items continues) to finish it.

Please note the elegant foot wear I acquired this weekend. Dairy boots to conquer the swamp that used to be my garden. :)